A VIEW FROM WEST STAND LOWER

"And let us do it with no show of fear"


Brighton and Hove Albion (0) 1
Bruno Saltor 54

Bolton Wanderers (0) 1
Ngog 90+5.45

In the 6th of 5 added minutes Bolton struck with one of their few meaningful visits to the Albion penalty area. As the ball bounced off the post and apologetically into the back of the net the faithful were reminded what a cruel game football can be. Bolton's stolen point gave a new meaning to "day light robbery". The Albion were well and truly mugged.

Where Mr. Haywood found his extra minute from nobody knows. Perhaps he had been on the Fergie Time course. It was strange that he completely failed to deal with Bolton's time wasting in the first half but somehow found 5 minutes plus in the second.

The truth is that Mr. Haywood's time telling problems should have been irrelevant. The Albion completely outplayed their visitors and made them look like a League 1 side for much of the game. Plenty of Albion's play had the purist purring. Bolton never looked like scoring until they did. Never could a team have played so well and be denied the victory they deserved. As I queued for a train a Bolton fan on the phone back to the land of mills said his team could have lost 8 or 9-1 - I could hardly disagree.

For 95 minutes the Albion were denied by the returning combination of bad luck, inspired goalkeeping and appaling finishing.

Orlandi was a victim of 2 of these. Midway through the first half a shot from distance bent in the breeze leaving Bogdan clutching at thin air only to bounce off the post. In the second half a superb left foot shot as he cut across the edge of the penalty area flew agonisingly inches wide of Bogdan's right hand post. But he was also guilty of one of the worst misses of the match shortly before. He got clear in the penalty area as a cross came over from the right and from 5 yards, in trying to place the ball beyond the goalkeeper, under hit the ball which gave the scampering Bodgan the opportunity to palm the ball away.

Apart from Orlandi the Abion hit the woodwork twice more in a first half purple patch. A long distance strike from Hammond was flicked on to the bar by Bogdan but he was left helpless as a powerful header from CMS following a cross from the right thumped against the bar.

Bogdan was again in fine form as the game went into added time - this time turning around the post a strike from Hoskins.

When it came to the awful finishing Barnes took all the prizes. Many of his fans must have felt totally frustrated as his words in the week about improving his goals to games ratio came back to haunt him. In the 14th minute Mr. Haywood awarded the Seagulls a penalty when Darren Pratley was adjudged to have handled a CMS cross. Barnes picked the ball up and I doubt if anybody in the stadium thought he would score given he had missed his previous 2. He just cannot get a clean connection on the ball and hit the pen low and hard more or less straight at Bogdan who conveniently knocked the ball back to Barnes. Faced with an open goal he tried to place the ball to Bogdan's right instead of driving it into the roof of the net which gave the goalie the opportunity to palm the ball away.

No Brighton player gave him an encouraging pat on the back as he adopted his hangdog expression and drifted out to the left wing. A few minutes later he got his head to an Orlandi free kick from the left but characteristically could not hit the target as he headed wide. The hapless Barnes missed another sitter just after half time when he completely miskicked when left free in the penalty area. His confidence shot to pieces he horribly screwed a left foot shot into the North Stand just before he was mercifully taken off.

As for Bruno's 54th minute strike - just look at the replay. One the best goals to have graced the Amex and a wonderful clean strike from distance. 

It was galling watching the Football League Show in the evening as teams up and down the country and in all the Divisions confidently tucked away penalties - a skill which seems totally beyond Albion players. 

Gus was right to praise the performance as it was probably their best 95 minutes since returning to the Championship but missing penalties and conceding late goals is proving costly. This combination has cost the side 7 points in the last month alone. We should be confidently sitting in the play off positions challenging for an automatic promotion spot. The Albion may not be the finished article when it comes to playing in the Premiership but does anybody seriously think there are teams above us in the Championship that are so significantly better? 

If CMS or Buckley do not score we struggle to find the net and the age old problem of not having a scoring midfield is still there.

So it is on to Tuesday and I suppose the big question is: will Barnes play? Gus has always been reluctant to drop him but Hoskins and Dobbie must wonder why they are here if Barnes is getting the nod ahead of them.

Lastly, a mini moan about the fixture list and the lack of Saturday home games. Bolton was the Albion's first home Saturday game since 20th October and the next one is not for another 3 weeks. The last 2 Saturdays have been away games as will be the next 2.  Whatever happened to alternate home and away games mostly played on Saturdays?

My alternative man of the match: Andrea Orlandi - a class act and best player on the pitch by a country mile. His skill and vision makes up for the lack of Vicente and he is pretty good at dead  ball situations. Just needs to get that first goal for the club.